[joshspankit]

I think you’re both right, but it’s the definition of “an idea” that has some assumptions.

Take Noah Kagan’s term “wantrepreneur” as the groundwork for what I mean:

Person A’s ideas are: Get business cards, build a website, get pamphlets, buy equipment, buy a business car, and so-on.

Person B’s idea is: find 3 clients first, do the rest after.

Person A’s ideas are all objectively good, but many of us who have seen businesses come and go won’t count those as ideas, and therefore will say “you have a good idea that needs refining” when talking about the core idea for the business.

[ascales]

You're pretty spot on with this.

I think for startups in general you gotta blend a bit of those two strategies to be successful too. You gotta build a nice landing page to convince people you're serious to get some of those early meetings to convince other people you're serious.